Icardi: ‘Pioli Changed Our Mentality’

Mauro Icardi sent a strong signal to Argentina with his hat-trick and praised Stefano Pioli after a 7-1 demolition job on Atalanta.

The striker was again snubbed by Argentina Coach Edgardo Bauza this week and replied by scoring a hat-trick in the space of nine minutes.

“I continue working and doing my best for my team. If the international call arrives, that’s a reward,” Icardi told Sky Sport Italia and Mediaset Premium.

“We got the initial approach wrong so many times this season, but not today. It was our best performance of the campaign and playing against a direct rival like Atalanta who were doing so well is fantastic.

“We kept pushing, but at the 40th minute took our foot off the gas and Atalanta scored, which means we’ve still got a lot to learn. If you lose concentration, the other side will punish you.

“As I always say, our objective is to try and get third place, but we’ll see where we are in May. Stefano Pioli changed our way of training and of thinking, so we are doing great things together.”